As the Broncos build for a better tomorrow, the cost of construction brings a "no fan zone" to the team's training camp this year.The Broncos are in the midst of a $35 million renovation project to expand and modernize their Dove Valley headquarters and build a fieldhouse for indoor practices. Construction on the team headquarters should be completed by the time players report for the s...

I'm probably an outlier regarding this issue, but I like the idea of having three practices open to the public at the SPAF. We missed last year's; now we can go to as many as three practices this year.

I do appreciate other fans' disappointment at not being able to watch practice at Dove Valley this season.

BroncfanOR wrote:Future, I would LOVE for Denver to take the Black Mamba but then again I'm biased.

Well Dave, I would too. The question is why? If I were to guess I would say that, out of anyone on this forum you know first hand what De' anthony " Black Mamba" Thomas can do. That guy is an all-round threat that can take the rock to the house from anywhere on the field, be it from the offensive side of the ball or on special teams:

D. Thomas to the Broncos would bring a electrifying back out off the backfield, we haven't had since Clinton Portis, I definitely with you on that Dave.

Dave just like you know first hand the effect D. Thomas would have on the Broncos, I have the same feeling about the rest of the guys I had in my mock draft. Each one of these guys should be available to the Broncos in each round. I hope De'anthony is there when Denver selects in the 4th, because he will be a sought after man, and he is also a great fit for the Patriots.

Sidenote:

I want to say hi to all the google adsense people, and I also want to say hi to NFL.com's Chris Wesseling. Chris how are you doing and I want to thank you for paying homage to me. I don't know if that was your intent or not. You are probably wondering what I am talking about, well I did this article a couple of weeks ago ( April 1st) and it ended in me saying:

while the Broncos were messing around playing checkers, these two teams:

The draft is right around the corner and shortly I plan to present my 2014 mock draft, but before I look forward to the 2014 mock draft I would like to take a look back at my 2013 NFL mock draft. I presenting my 2013 mock draft not to be arrogant or cocky, just to show the public I do, do my research on these guys and to present a more well rounded view outside of the mass media perspective. Now with that said here are my prospects and mock draft picks from last year:

First off, early in January of 2013 I located a prospect out of Missouri who played DT, who stock was on the raise. At the time he was a mid to early round 2nd round pick at the time, but come draft day he was the first DT taken of the board, and ultimately won Defensive Rookie of the year, and that player was Sheldon Richardson:

Once Sheldon Richardson stock had risen to a point where the Broncos could no longer draft him without giving up picks, I turn to another player, the Broncos could have used, and that was a right guard in the draft. That right guard was Larry Warford, I had been studying Warford for months, he ultimately was drafted in the 3rd round to the Detroit Lions and the Broncos decided to sign RG Louis Vasquesz. In terms of Vasquesz he became a Pro Bowler and Larry Warford became the Detroit lions and Pro Football Focus Rookie of the year:

"But that’s all in the past. What Allen said has implications for this coming season. If they were going to have Thomas groomed to be a starter last year it stands to reason that they will do the same thing this year."

Sean Porter went on IR in 2013, but will contribute in 2014( cincyjungle.com quote):

In many ways, Porter has already been forgotten. A former fourth-rounder that suffered a season-ending torn labrum during training camp, Marvin Lewis praised Porter as a versatile athlete.

"Sean is a guy who can really run and cover, and he’s going to continue to grow and develop. He has the potential to be an NFL body, an athleticism-type body similar to Thomas Howard when he was here. He’s going to be big enough and strong enough and also have the flexibility and speed to be very productive."

Alright ladies and gentlemen, it is that time of the year, the 2014 mock draft. Like I always say every year it is about maximizing the draft, that means from top to bottom, from the first pick to the unsigned free agents, and this year I believe I have found several players throughout the draft that should be able to produce immediately either on offense, defense or special teams. Now with that said lets take a look at the following players.

1. Position CB

With the first pick I would chose CB Stanley Jean-Baptist, I have touched on this player several different times already:

But SJB makes the perfect fit for the Broncos, if you consider the available corners in later rounds and the Broncos 2014 opponents. If I were to guess I would say that the Broncos are in the top 5 teams in terms of having to play BIG WRs this year, seeing that we have to play, Anquan Boldin, Michael Crabtree,newly signed Brandon Llyod, Larry Fritzgerald his teammate Michael Floyd, and within our own division Keenan Allen and Dwayne Bowe twice, the return of Eric Decker, plus the Seahawks just re-signed Sidney Rice, and oh yeah did I mention A.J. Green.

Bottom Line:

Stanley Jean-Baptiste is the real deal that is why his stock as of April 20, 2014 is still growing, a couple a months ago he was projected to be a 3rd round pick, now Mel Kiper in his recent mock draft has SJB going in the middle of the second round to the Detroit Lionswith the #45 pick:

" In his latest two-round mock draft, Kiper projects the Lions will take Alabama safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix with the No. 10 pick, then follow that up by selecting gargantuan Nebraska cornerback Stanley Jean-Baptiste with the 45th choice. "

With the second pick, the Broncos need to address the interior pass rush. I know the Broncos get back Wolfe and Vickerson, but what really concerns me was a lack of any interior pass rush from our defense line in the Super Bowl and that is supported from the data provided by Pro Football Focus, in regards to the Broncos interior pressure:

Absent the Pass Rush

When previewing the matchup of the Seattle offense and the Denver defense I had highlighted Robert Ayers as a key player if we weren’t going to be talking about Von Miller’s absence as being crucial come Monday morning. Well, it’s Monday morning and while Miller’s presence on its own would not have turned last night’s game, the Broncos were glaringly devoid of defensive playmakers in his absence. Ayers notched just one hurry in a defensive effort that yielded just six pressures (all of which were hurries) against a far from water tight Seattle offensive line. The Broncos didn’t effectively defeat blocks when Wilson stayed in the pocket and couldn’t make timely plays in pursuit when he rolled or scrambled out of the pocket. Only Shaun Phillips notched multiple pressures (two hurries, one in pursuit late in garbage time), though he finished the season with nine straight games with a negative pass rush grade.

Like Michael Bennett points out, the key to beating the Tom Brady and Peyton Manning's of the world, " you have to get them off their spot" meaning you have to have guys who can create immediate pressure up the middle of the quarterback pocket. The person I believe can do that is DT Will Sutton. Despite his current draft status(projected to go 3-4 rd), I believe he could be an amazing impact interior pass rusher. Especially if you consider that top 20 Pick, DT Aaron Donald has almost identical numbers to Will Sutton over the past two years.

Will Sutton only problem was, going into his senior year he wanted to transform himself into a top 20 pick like Aaron Donald did, so he got bad advice from his coaches, here is a question and answer session from the senior bowl:

Q. When teams have talked to you here, have they been concerned about weight?

A. “They just ask me what led into the weight gain, and I just say I was just listening to too many outside sources. I was playing at a high level at 280. I shouldn’t have changed what I did, what I was good at. But everything happens for a reason. So I’m just getting back down to it (weight) now, really learning the ropes of nutrition, a little dieting, eating real healthy.”

Q. Could you feel the difference last year, like ‘yea, I’m not as good as I was in 2012?’

A. “At some points yes and at some points no. Last year I was getting doubled and tripled the majority of the time out there. But I noticed it in my stamina. My junior year my motor was a lot better than my senior year. I noticed that for a fact, a lot more run to the ball. That’s something I’ve got to prove coming in. I’ve got to improve on my motor.”

Q. Darnell Dockett has looked at you on film and said you look like him. Do you see similarities, have you watched him a lot?

A. “I’ve watched him a bunch and for him to say something like that it is great because him being in Arizona he gets to watch our games. For him to go out and say stuff like that, follow me on instagram and twitter, that’s great. He’s a great NFL player and for him to acknowledge me like that is just great.”

The bad weight(FAT) and it caused his performance to suffer going into the 2013 season:

"Sutton could have left after a stellar junior campaign, but apparently he only received mid-round grades from the NFL Draft advisory committee."

" According to NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks, an NFL scout from the NFC West said that Sutton “needs to get in better shape and get his motor running to become the difference-maker some envision as a situational interior rusher in the NFL.”

From the Senior Bowl to his Pro day Will Sutton had dropped closed to 20 pounds and by week 1 should be back to around he Junior year's playing weight. Will makes all the sense in the world because as Super Bowl winning champion D-line Michael Bennett implies in that video Film Study it is good to have an outside pass rush( Von/ Ware) as well as an inside pass rush.

Now for weeks people have been talking about how C.J. Mosely could slide to the Broncos at #31, but more realistic fans realize that probably won't happen, so with that said, more and more people have move on to either Ryan Shazier, Chris Borland or Shayne Shov. But what if I said we should add another MLB that is flying under nearly everyone's radar who athletic ability, physical attributes, and career stats match or exceeds the C.J. Mosely, Shayne Skov and Chris Borlands. Want to know who it is? Well his name is MLB Andrew Jackson from Western Kentucky. He is a big MLB at 6'1'' and 254, and probably one of or the number one most underrated linebacker in this years draft. Some label him a 2 down thumper similar to Brandon Spikes. Well I have to disagree because unlike Brandon Spikes who ran a 5.0 flat at his Pro Day:

Asked about the 4.95 time that contributed to him dropping to the bottom of the second round, Spikes said: "I have been watching this game for a while [and] I have yet to see a player run in a straight line 40 yards in a game. So I've got a little saying: 'It is what it is, but it ain't what you think.'"

The Patriots and Belichick obviously agree.

"Testing is certainly one way to evaluate a player, but football is a game of 22 guys out there on the field all moving at the same time," Belichick said. "It's not a track meet. It's not a jumping contest. Those are measures of athletic ability and we use them just like everybody else does, but ultimately it comes down to players playing the game."

Western Kentucky MLB Andrew Jackson(AJ) ran in the mid 4.7s at his pro day on March 20th:

You can hear him talk about how impressed he was with Quanterus after that Alabama game. Guess who else played a major role in that game as well, despite the loss to that #1 ranked team? You guess it Andrew Jackson.

If anyone saw that game, you know that Rookie of the Year running back #42 Eddie Lacy played in that game. Eddie Lacy won ROY because of his ability to run through multiple NFL caliber players on his way to the endzone:

My two candidates with the fourth pick no brainer to me either Dri Archer or Oregon's own De'Anthony Thomas who's offense may have played faster than Denver's no huddle:

sidenote: Dri Archer's combine numbers tied Trindon holiday's 4.28 forty, and way faster than pecy harvin's 4.41 forty, and De' anthony Thomas as I mention before played in the no-huddle offense in Oregon which probably plays faster than Denver's offense so he would be a perfect fit:

Well a lot of people have been wondering who replaces Decker at WR, where is my selection, I am going with WR Jeff Janis who stock is steady climbing and held his own at the combine, running in the 4.3- 4.4 rage way faster than Eric Decker, with excellent hands:

This pick is for insurance, in case Rahim Moore situation gets worst. There is a safety by the name of Alden Darby, much like Stanley Jean-Baptiste ,who is a guy very good at tracking the ball in flight and can catch and is always around the ball(ED REED like/ 4.46 forty at pro day) because of his great instincts, this guy is a fighter, hauling in 2 interception during the east -west shrine game:

Finally with the 7 pick the Broncos draft C/G Gabe Ikard, he held his own against some quality opponents this past year and is a good development project, perfect for learning behind Will Montgomery and Manny Ramirez:

Alright ladies and gentlemen, it is that time of the year, the 2014 mock draft. Like I always say every year it is about maximizing the draft, that means from top to bottom, from the first pick to the unsigned free agents, and this year I believe I have found several players throughout the draft that should be able to produce immediately either on offense, defense or special teams. Now with that said lets take a look at the following players.

1. Position CB

With the first pick I would chose CB Stanley Jean-Baptist, I have touched on this player several different times already:

But SJB makes the perfect fit for the Broncos, if you consider the available corners in later rounds and the Broncos 2014 opponents. If I were to guess I would say that the Broncos are in the top 5 teams in terms of having to play BIG WRs this year, seeing that we have to play, Anquan Boldin, Michael Crabtree,newly signed Brandon Llyod, Larry Fritzgerald his teammate Michael Floyd, and within our own division Keenan Allen and Dwayne Bowe twice, the return of Eric Decker, plus the Seahawks just re-signed Sidney Rice, and oh yeah did I mention A.J. Green.

Bottom Line:

Stanley Jean-Baptiste is the real deal that is why his stock as of April 20, 2014 is still growing, a couple a months ago he was projected to be a 3rd round pick, now Mel Kiper in his recent mock draft has SJB going in the middle of the second round to the Detroit Lionswith the #45 pick:

" In his latest two-round mock draft, Kiper projects the Lions will take Alabama safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix with the No. 10 pick, then follow that up by selecting gargantuan Nebraska cornerback Stanley Jean-Baptiste with the 45th choice. "

With the second pick, the Broncos need to address the interior pass rush. I know the Broncos get back Wolfe and Vickerson, but what really concerns me was a lack of any interior pass rush from our defense line in the Super Bowl and that is supported from the data provided by Pro Football Focus, in regards to the Broncos interior pressure:

Absent the Pass Rush

When previewing the matchup of the Seattle offense and the Denver defense I had highlighted Robert Ayers as a key player if we weren’t going to be talking about Von Miller’s absence as being crucial come Monday morning. Well, it’s Monday morning and while Miller’s presence on its own would not have turned last night’s game, the Broncos were glaringly devoid of defensive playmakers in his absence. Ayers notched just one hurry in a defensive effort that yielded just six pressures (all of which were hurries) against a far from water tight Seattle offensive line. The Broncos didn’t effectively defeat blocks when Wilson stayed in the pocket and couldn’t make timely plays in pursuit when he rolled or scrambled out of the pocket. Only Shaun Phillips notched multiple pressures (two hurries, one in pursuit late in garbage time), though he finished the season with nine straight games with a negative pass rush grade.

Like Michael Bennett points out, the key to beating the Tom Brady and Peyton Manning's of the world, " you have to get them off their spot" meaning you have to have guys who can create immediate pressure up the middle of the quarterback pocket. The person I believe can do that is DT Will Sutton. Despite his current draft status(projected to go 3-4 rd), I believe he could be an amazing impact interior pass rusher. Especially if you consider that top 20 Pick, DT Aaron Donald has almost identical numbers to Will Sutton over the past two years.

Will Sutton only problem was, going into his senior year he wanted to transform himself into a top 20 pick like Aaron Donald did, so he got bad advice from his coaches, here is a question and answer session from the senior bowl:

Q. When teams have talked to you here, have they been concerned about weight?

A. “They just ask me what led into the weight gain, and I just say I was just listening to too many outside sources. I was playing at a high level at 280. I shouldn’t have changed what I did, what I was good at. But everything happens for a reason. So I’m just getting back down to it (weight) now, really learning the ropes of nutrition, a little dieting, eating real healthy.”

Q. Could you feel the difference last year, like ‘yea, I’m not as good as I was in 2012?’

A. “At some points yes and at some points no. Last year I was getting doubled and tripled the majority of the time out there. But I noticed it in my stamina. My junior year my motor was a lot better than my senior year. I noticed that for a fact, a lot more run to the ball. That’s something I’ve got to prove coming in. I’ve got to improve on my motor.”

Q. Darnell Dockett has looked at you on film and said you look like him. Do you see similarities, have you watched him a lot?

A. “I’ve watched him a bunch and for him to say something like that it is great because him being in Arizona he gets to watch our games. For him to go out and say stuff like that, follow me on instagram and twitter, that’s great. He’s a great NFL player and for him to acknowledge me like that is just great.”

The bad weight(FAT) and it caused his performance to suffer going into the 2013 season:

"Sutton could have left after a stellar junior campaign, but apparently he only received mid-round grades from the NFL Draft advisory committee."

" According to NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks, an NFL scout from the NFC West said that Sutton “needs to get in better shape and get his motor running to become the difference-maker some envision as a situational interior rusher in the NFL.”

From the Senior Bowl to his Pro day Will Sutton had dropped closed to 20 pounds and by week 1 should be back to around he Junior year's playing weight. Will makes all the sense in the world because as Super Bowl winning champion D-line Michael Bennett implies in that video Film Study it is good to have an outside pass rush( Von/ Ware) as well as an inside pass rush.

I won't quote the post because it was very long. But I too like Andrew Jackson. He played with Quanterus Smith and was said to be the second best pass rusher on that team in 2012. I put him in the 4th -6th round somewhere. If Shazier, Borland and Mosley are gone, Jackson would be my next choice.

retro-grouch wrote:Yeah, and did you really need to quote the whole block of text to make that point?

Yeah, it helped to illustrate my point

Well superior thoughts, if you can't take in this information, how superior are your thoughts, with such a limited mindset?

Well, considering your posts are completely off topic and on the wrong blog, I don't think I would consider it a limited mindset. Respect the board, and those that have to read it. This is way too much information and in the wrong location. Put it on your facebook page, or a website, and direct anyone that might be interested to view it. Don't hijack the board.

retro-grouch wrote:Yeah, and did you really need to quote the whole block of text to make that point?

Yeah, it helped to illustrate my point

Well superior thoughts, if you can't take in this information, how superior are your thoughts, with such a limited mindset?

Well, considering your posts are completely off topic and on the wrong blog, I don't think I would consider it a limited mindset. Respect the board, and those that have to read it. This is way too much information and in the wrong location. Put it on your facebook page, or a website, and direct anyone that might be interested to view it. Don't hijack the board.

His posts are the product of some effort and have some very worthwhile content.

You can just ignore him if you want to. No need to be a jerk about it.